


They Go Through the Motions

by I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own



Series: Suilad Aran Thranduil [1]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: thranduil is my baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 12:41:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own/pseuds/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Major Character Death</p><p>They go through the motions. War is a disgusting, destructive, and unpredictable thing. They all agree. Though you might win, you never recover your losses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Go Through the Motions

They go through the motions. The crown sits perfectly and beautifully on Estel’s head. But he’s not Estel anymore, is he? He’s not even Aragorn. He’s Elessar now. King Elessar and it is strange seeing the crown upon his head, and a smile upon his face. Strange to see him so at ease around his own people, when for so long he tried to hide from them.

They go through the motions. Gimli claps King Elessar on the shoulder and teases him about his new name and title. Legolas questions how long it will be until King Elessar finds himself passed out under a table, with his advisors yelling at him to stop drinking so much. King Elessar reminds Legolas that it was not he who took part in a drinking contest with a certain dwarf. King Elessar and it is strange addressing him as such. Strange to look upon him and have so many names and memories spring to mind, but none of this new man. None of this well dressed, confident man. None of this king. 

They go through the motions. Legolas struggles to make the connection between the bubbly little boy he first met in his father’s throne room, and the man who stands before him now. Legolas struggles to make the connection between the rebellious and ragged teenager he found sneaking through his window one evening, and the man who stands before him now. Legolas struggles to make the connection between the weather beaten ranger who stumbled across his path, delirious from pain and thirst and mere hours away from death, and the man who stands before him now. Legolas struggles to look through the mask and see his friend. He struggled all the other times as well. But something about this is different.

They go through the motions. Elessar prepares for Arwen’s arrival, and looks over plans for rebuilding. Legolas anxiously awaits letters from home, from his father. Gimli’s already sent out invitations to his people, the Dwarves are excited to journey to the White City again. Legolas finally notices the trees in the gardens are silent. 

They go through the motions. The messenger arrives and does not take his message to King Elessar. He goes instead to Legolas, bows before him and presents to him a scroll. Legolas’ heart hammers in his chest and his fingers tremble as they liberate the scroll from the messenger. He reads the words upon the parchment and as it falls through his fingers he faintly hears the messenger speak. ‘Suilad, Aran Legolas Thranduilion!’ The silence of the trees ends abruptly and all Legolas can hear is them screaming in his ears. Discordance in the usually beautiful song they sing, discordance from their previous silence. 

They go through the motions. Legolas does not scream or cry or break down in the court. King Elessar steps down from his throne and picks up the scroll, the words register in his mind and the scroll falls from his fingers, too. He wraps an arm around Legolas’ trembling shoulders and leads the elf away. Gimli collects the scroll, but finding it entirely in tengwar and unfamiliar to him, he instead addresses the messenger and asks what has happened, the news is unwelcome.

They go through the motions. Legolas wishes Elessar and Gimli well, and promises to write to them often, he wishes he could promise to visit them often as well, but he knows that is unlikely. He crosses paths with Lady Arwen and her escort on his way towards Edoras, Arwen passes on her condolences, Legolas passes on his congratulations. Their meeting is one of conflicting emotions. They do not keep each other long.

He goes through the motions. The forest cries at him as he approaches, he could feel her sadness from Rivendell. She mourns her king and friend as he mourns his father. He crosses only one patrol as he wanders the path he’s known from childhood. The patrol offers to escort him the rest of the way. He refuses them and orders them to continue as they were, clearing out the last remaining spider nests. His father would have wanted that.

They go through the motions. Galion meets him at the gate and Thorontur meets him on the stairs. Celeborn meets him in the King’s chambers; it’s all suddenly very real then. It’s all suddenly very real when he steps into his father’s bedroom and sees the body lying on the bed.

He goes through the motions. Crying and screaming and begging his father to wake up. Crying and screaming and ranting and raving. Crying and screaming and refusing to believe. Crying and screaming and blaming. There is no response, only the growing of the ice in his heart. 

He goes through the motions. They bury Thranduil beneath his favourite tree in his private garden. The forest cries, the elves cry with her. The forest goes into a deeper mourning than it has ever had before. 

They go through the motions. They put a crown upon his head; it has been made exactly according to his instruction, carved by the dwarves of Erebor, it is a piece of beauty and elegance. It is a shining unbroken band of blue gold, carved to look like running water, like a river. It makes Legolas look as if there is a halo of water above his head, and that is exactly how he wanted it. They rename the forest the Wood of Green Leaves, and section off the Enchanted River. The forest is sluggish in coming back to life. 

They go through the motions. There are no jokes made about his new title. There are no questions asked about when he’ll be passed out under the table with his advisors screaming at him. There are no plans for celebration, only mourning. They’d thought their realm would be happier when the darkness was finally vanquished, but in their dreams, they forgot to factor in the chance that the King who carried them through the war, might not be the one to carry them out of it. They forgot to factor in that with the new age came new leadership. All the realms now had new rulers. It was a time of new beginnings, utterly and completely. 

They go through the motions. War is a disgusting, destructive, and unpredictable thing. They all agree. Though you might win, you never recover your losses.

**Author's Note:**

> Did not wish to spoil at start.
> 
> Thranduil was gravely injured in that final battle against Dol Guldur, but they were victorious, of course. And while many of the Lorien party returned home, a few stayed behind with Celeborn to watch over Thranduil. Thranduil wished Legolas to be kept entirely in the dark on what had happened, because Thranduil hoped he would survive and Legolas would never have to know. But Thranduil's body started failing, and he relinquished the throne before falling into a coma that he never awoke from.


End file.
